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The IOC policy is specifically that athletes need to test negative for the SRY gene to be eligible to compete in the female category. Imane Khelif won gold in t
by themgt 7mo ago
The IOC policy is specifically that athletes need to test negative for the SRY gene to be eligible to compete in the female category. Imane Khelif won gold in the 2024 Summer Olympics women's boxing event, and has since admitted to having the SRY gene. So it isn't a non-issue.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imane_Khelif#2026 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imane_Khelif#2026
- Philadelphia 7mo agoThe page you link to doesn’t say that. “As of February 2026, Khelif had not described herself as intersex or as having a DSD.”
- decimalenough 7mo ago[flagged]
- fretboard 7mo ago[flagged]
- space_fountain 7mo agoThe article is saying that there are fairly credible denials no?
- blippz 7mo ago[flagged]
- decimalenough 7mo agoJust the Algerian government harrumphing. As GP says, Khelif herself has basically admitted to having the SRY gene in interviews, and has been notably tight-lipped about what medical tests caused her to be disqualified from women's boxing in the IBA.
- blks 7mo agoIt’s incorrect to call this a “leaked medical report”. This is a document of unknown origin, widely shared by online grifters.
- mmooss 7mo agoHas Khelif published it? Otherwise, I don't think anyone's very personal information about their body should be on HN (or anywhere). If it doesn't violate a guideline, it should.
- Jerrrrrrrry 7mo agoThey violated the rules. They didnt have to compete.
- mmooss 7mo agoWhat does that have to do with the GP?
- Jerrrrrrrry 7mo agoContestant being invalidated would already innately make the reason for invalidation one for public consideration.
- Aurornis 7mo agoThat page is at the center of a massive debate on Wikipedia for that specific topic. Khelif responded to a question about having the SRY gene like this: > In a February 2026 interview with L'Équipe, Khelif was asked: "To be clear, you have a female phenotype but possess the SRY gene, an indicator of masculinity", to which she responded: "Yes, and it’s natural. I have female hormones." So she was asked if she had the SRY gene and she responded "Yes". That's also consistent with the previous issues with governing bodies excluding her under their rules, but they are not allowed to share test results for obvious reasons. The debate now is down to technicalities. Technically the Wikipedia quote is correct in that Khelif has not described herself as intersex or having a DSD in those words but she has now admitted to having an SRY gene, which is the important part in the context of these competition rules.
- conradfr 7mo ago[flagged]
- rideontime 7mo agoSo it's the headline that's inaccurate. It should read "bars women with the SRY gene" rather than "transgender."
- fretboard 7mo agoIt should read "bars male athletes".
- colpabar 7mo ago[flagged]
- blippz 7mo ago[flagged]
- Aurornis 7mo agoThe ruling itself is much more nuanced and covers a lot of situations, including extremely rare disorders of sexual development (DSD) and their variations. The most recent controversies on this topic did not involve transgender athletes, but that's largely unknown or misunderstood by people who only know this topic by headlines and sound bites. The headline writers are relating it back to the topic which brings the most clicks, which is transgender athletes. The IOC didn't go on a crusade against transgender athletes specifically. They were refining the rules on sex-based divisions and included a lot of considerations and nuance.
- jojobas 7mo agoThe former is included in the latter, so while inaccurate it's still correct.
- throwawayk7h 7mo agoJust as cis women can have the SRY gene, so too can trans women not have it.
- RealityVoid 7mo agoI find the Khelif debacle incredibly damning for anti-trans militants since she apparently was born as a woman and has this weird thing where she has male characteristics. The anti-trans hysteria at that point in time was super off-putting for me since she did nothing wrong but merely existed. Before this I was like... meh, have sex separated sports and be done with it, but this made me re-evaluate my views in sex in that it's much more fluid than I gave it credit for. And this, by "nature", without human intervention. I don't see anyone ever going "oh, Michael Phelps has unfair advantages because of this crazy gene". Then, it's fair and square, just better genes life's not fair. No, suddenly the care now, eeeeveryone cares now about woman's sports because someone with a rare genetic disorder showed up in the spot light. Utterly bizzare for me.
- blindriver 7mo ago[flagged]
- charlesarthur 7mo agoYou need to read up about XY 5-ARD (the condition Caster Semenya has and Khelif surely has). Being XY with active SRY means you're male. Khelif has admitted having the SRY gene (in an interview with L'Equipe). Males have very significant advantages (50% plus) in power sports such as weightlifting and, yes, boxing. Sex isn't "more fluid". It's entirely binary, but DSDs (differences of sexual development) can make appearances deceptive - so an XY male can be wrongly recorded as female at birth, especially in countries with inexperienced medics and midwives. Phelps's records have all been broken. By other males, of course - no female is getting close to his numbers. That's male advantage in action.
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- thrance 7mo agoKhelif has an uterus, breasts and any other characteristics associated with women. Conservatives calling her a man is pure insanity and just shows how limited their perspectives are and how confused they are about the subject. Used to be that they'd ask in bad faith "what is a woman?" to trans advocates, but maybe it was a genuine question? Because they don't look like they could recognize one if they ever saw one.
- aucisson_masque 7mo agoExactly, it just got to be fair for everyone. Can't make a woman with 'internal testicles and higher levels of testosterone compare against other women, that would be like accepting dopping.
- crote 7mo agoAnd Michael Phelps should be banned for having freakishly long arms - his genetic advantage is basically doping as well, obviously!
- aucisson_masque 7mo ago[flagged]
- sevenseacat 7mo agoThat makes no sense. A decent percentage of women would have higher testosterone levels than some men, due to various hormonal conditions like PCOS.
- aucisson_masque 7mo agoMost testosterone values in PCOS will be ≤150 ng/dL (≤5.2 nmol/L). Men, especially athlete, are around 30 nmol/l. At the very least 6 times over your weird case scenario. I'm sorry but women don't have testicles so they can't naturally produce high levels of testosterone, you won't be able to twist stuffs enough and make scenario weird enough to prove that.
- thrance 7mo ago> Michal Phelps didn't chose to have long arms Oh, and Khelif chose to have a female phenotype so she could compete in the female category in the Olympics? Get real. There are many other women in the same situation. > You will never find a woman that has the same testosterone levels that a man identifying as a woman Uh, yes you will... The entire purpose of taking estrogen is to bring down testosterone to female-level.